In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; Yet [promising as it is] the harvest will be a heap [of ruins that passes away] In the day of sickness and incurable pain.
“Cut off the sower from Babylon And the one who handles the sickle at the time of harvest. For fear of the sword of the oppressor Everyone will return to his own people And everyone will flee to his own land.
Who is the wise man who may understand this [without any doubt]? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “There is wailing in all the public plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they call the farmers to mourning [for those who have died] And professional mourners to wailing.
Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.